The Horry herald. (Conway, S.C.) 1886-1923, September 16, 1915, Page SIX, Image 6
UK
i
[ The BLA
I By E. PHILLIP!
B Author of** Mr.
I Carlo," "The I
*enger" "The Li{
i Novelised from dbe modoo picture drmi
Universal Film Manufacturing <
A i photographs from the m<
^Copyright, lftlB, 1
This, the first instalment of
the Black Box will be shown in
motion pictures at the Casino
Theatre Thursday night.
FIRST INSTALLMENT
"SANFORD QUEST, CRIMINOLOCA
ST."
The young man from the West hao
arrived in New York only that nfternoon,
and his cousin, town born and
bred, had already embarked upon the
task of showing him the grea city.
They occupied a table in a somewhat
insignificant corner ol one of New
York's most famous roof garden restaurants.
The place was crowded
with diners. There were many notabilities
to be pointed out. The town
young man was very busy.
"Tell me," the country cousin inquired,
"who Is the man at a table by
himself? The waiters speak to him
as though he were a little god. Is he
a millionaire, or a judge, or what?"
"You're in luck, Alfred," the New
Yorker declared. "That's the most interesting
man in New York?one of
the most interesting in the world.
That's Sanford Quest."
"Who's he?"
"Sanford Quest is tlie greatest master
in criminology the world has ever
known. He is a magician, a scientist,
the Pierpont Morgan of his profession."
"Say, do you mean that he is a detective?"
"Yes," he said simply, "you can call
him that?just in the same way that
you could call Napoleon a soldier or
Lincoln a statesman He is a detective,
if you like to call him that, the
master detective in the world "
When Sanford Quest entered his
house an hour later he glanced into
two of the rooms on the ground floor,
in which telegraph and telephone operators
sat at their instruments.
Then, by means of a small lift, he ascended
to the top story and entered
a large apartment wrapped in gloom
until, as he crossed the threshold, he
touched the switches of the electric
lights. One realized then that this
was a man of taste. Quest drew tip
an easy chair to the wide-flung window,
touching a bell as he crossed the
room. In a few moments the door was
j -i 1 ?*
V|? cucu ?"U uiurseu IlOJB.eieSSiy. A
'young woman entered with o bundle!
of papers!"*'rv* I
criminologist glanced through I
the papers quickly. "No further inquiries,
Laura?"
She left the room almost noiselessly.
THE TENEMENT HOUSE MYSTERY."
v" ?
OHAPTER w.
"This habit of becoming Inte for
breakfast," Lady Ashleigh remarked,
as she sat down the coffee pot, "ifgrowing
upon yout father. Any news
dear?"
Ella glanced up from a pile of cor
respondence through which she had
been looking a little negligently.
"None at all, mother. My correspondence
is just the usual sort of rubbish?invitations
and gossip. Such a
lot of invitations, by the bye."
"At your age," Lady Ashleigh de
dared, "that is the sort of correspond
ence which you should find interest
ing."
*'You know I am not like that, mother,"
she protested. "My music is really
the only part of life which resolutely
appeals to me. Oh, why doesn't Delarey
make up his mind and let father
know, as he promised! . . . Here
comes daddy, mum."
Lord Ashleigh loitered for a moment
to raise the covers from the
dishes upon a side tahle. Afterwards :
he seated himself at the tahle.
"I heard this morning/' lie said,
"from your friend Delarey, Ella. He
went into the matter very fully. The ;
substance of it is that for the first
year of your musical training he advises
New York.
"I have not finished yet. This cable-:
m " La ? ? -1? 1
f,iurn, uc 'vein un, uruwmg H little i
slip of blue paper from his pocket,
"was brought to me this morning?"
He smoothed it out before him and
read:
To Eord Ashlelgh, Hamblln House, Dor- j
set, England: 1 And a magnificent pro- |
gram arranged for at Metropolitan Opera
house this year. Have taken box for i
your daughter, engaged the best professor
in the world, and secured an apartment
at the Ixdnnd, our most select and
comfortable residential hotel. Understand
your brother is still In South America, returning
early spring, but will do our best
to make your daughter's year of siudy as
pleasant as possible. Advise her sail on
Saturday by Mauretanla.
"On Saturday?" Ella almost
screamed.
"I shall now," Lord Ashlelgh said,
"leave you to talk over and discuss
this matter for the rest of the day.
At dinner time tonight you can tell me
your decision, or rather we will discuss
it together.'
I
CK BOX 13
S OPPENHEIM I \
Grexof Montm !! B
Vanished Afejs- ; | B
ghted Wqy,"etc. \ | i
===== t
ma iff Mine Mme produced by the 1 Li
Uompany. Illustrated with Wa
>Uon .picture production 1 J ^
by QUa JF. Wood.)
CHAPTER II.
"I am to take it, I believe," Lord
Ashleigh began after dinner that e\ening,
"that you ihave finally decided,
Ella, to embrace our friend Delarey's
suggestion and to leave us Saturday?"
"If you please," Ella murmured,
with glowing eyes.
"You will take your own maid with
you, of course," Lord Ashleigh contin
ued. "Ijenora is a good girl and I am
sure she will look after you ouite well,
but ' have decided to supplement Henora's
surveillance over your comfort
by sending with you, also, a sort of
courier and general attendant?whom
do you think? Well, Macdougal. He j
has lived in New York for .some years,
and you will doubtless find this a
<r MrvM f n nil- it
^iciu uuvauut^v, Cilia.
Ella glanced over her shoulder at ;
the two servants who were standing
discreetly in the background. Her
eyes rested upon the pale, expressionless
face of the man who during the
last few years had enjoyed her father's
confidence.
For a moment a queer sense of appr~'
ension troubled her. Was it true, I
she wondered, that she did not like the ,
man? She banished the thought aJmost
as soon as it was conceived.
"You are spoiling me, daddy," Ella I
sighed.
"If you think so now," he remarked,
"I do not know what you will say to
me presently."
He laid upon the table a very familiar
morocco case, stamped with a
coronet.
"Our diamonds!" Ella exclaimed.
"The Ashleigh diamonds!"
The necklace lay exposed to view,
1 <-..1 -* ' '
me v*uuucn u 1 stones nasning in tlie !
subdued light.
"In New York," Lord Ashleigh continued,
"it is the custom to wear jew- i
elry in public more, even, than in this
country. Allow me!"
lie leaned forward. With long, capable
fingers he fastened the necklace
around his daughter's neck.
"It is our farewell present to you,"
Lord Ashleigh declared.
Ella, impelled by some curious' im- i
pulse which she could not quite understand,
glanced quickly around to
where the manservant was standing. I
For once she saw something besides
^ i ? | n? | u
"Our Diamonds!" She Exclaimed. "The
Ashleigh Diamonds!"
the perfect automaton. His eyes, in- '
stead of being fixed at the hack of his
master's chair, were simply riveted
upon the stones. A queer little feeling
of uneasiness disturbed Ella for the
moment. It passed, however, as in
glancing away her attention was once j
more attracted by the sparkle of the
jewels upon her bosom.
CHAPTER III.
The streets of New York were covered
with a thin, powdery snow as the
very luxurious car of Mrs. Delarey
drew up outside the front of the Le- |
land hotel, a little after midnight. Ella
leaned over and kissed her hostess.
"Thank you, dear, ever so much,
for your delightful dinner," she exclaimed,
"and for bringing me home.
As for the music, well, I can't talk
about It. 1 am just going upstairs
into my room to sit and think."
Tne car rolled off. Ella, a large!
umbrella held over her head by the i
doorkeeper, stepped up the little strip I
of drugget which led into the softly |
warmed hall of the Iceland. Behind
her came her maid, Lenora, and Macdougal,
who had been riding on the ;
box with the chauffeur. He paused i
for a moment to-wipe the snow from j
his clothes as Ella crossed the hall to ,
the left. Lenora turned toward him. j
He whispered something in her ear..
For a moment she shook. Then she i
turned away and followed her mis-j
tress upstairs.
Arrived in her apartment, FJla
threw herself with a little sigh ot con- !
tent into a big easy-chair before, tho
?
TBS HORRY HER
lire and gave herself up far a tfew' moments
to reverie.
A log stirred upon the fire: She
leaned forward lazily to replace ft and
then stopped short. Exactly opposite
to her was a door which opened on
to a back hall. It was use<l only by
the servants. Just aB she wan in the
act of leaning forward Ella toecame
conscious of a curious hallucination.
"Lenora. come here at once."
The maid hurried in from Use meat
room. Ella pointed to the door.
"Lenora, look outside. See it anyone
is on that landing. 1 fancied that
the door opened.1'
Lenora crossed the room and itried
the handle. Then she turned tomuurds
her mistress in triumph.
"It is lockeu, my lady," she reported.
"Go down and ask Macdougai to:
come up. 1 am going to have this ,
thing explained."
Something of her mistress' agtta- J
tioh seemed to have become communicated
to Lenora.
She walked quickly to the back part
of the hotel and ascended to the wing
in which the servants' quarters were
situated. Here she made her way
along a corridor until she -reached
Macdougal's room. She knocked, and
knocked again. There was no answer.
She tried the door and found it. was
locked. Then she returned to the lift
and descended once more to the floor
upon which her mistress* apartments
were situated. She opened the door
ot the suite without knocking and
turned at once to the sitting room.
"1 am sorry, my lady?" she began.
Then she stopped short. The lift
boy. who had had a little trouble with
his starting apparatus and had not as
yet descended, heard the scream;
which broke from her lips, and a fireman
in an adjacent corridor came running
up almost at the same moment.!
Lenora was on her knees hv her mis
tress' side. Ella was still lying in the
easy-chair in which she had been
seated, but her head was thrown back
in an unnatural fashion. There was
a red mark .lust across her throat.
Lenora shrieked, "She's fainted!
And the diamonds?the diamonds have
gone!"
A doctor, hurriedly summoned, had
just completed a hasty examination
when a police inspector, followed by a
detective, entered
"This is your affair, gentlemen, not
mine," the doctor said gravely. "The
young lady is dead. She has been
cruelly strangled within the last live
or ten minutes."
The inspector made a careful examination
of the room.
"Tell me." he inquired, "is this the
vouvg lady who owned the wonderful
Ashleigh diamonds?"
"They've gone!" Lenora shrieked.
"They've been stolen! She was wearing
them when I left the room!"
The inspector turned to the telephone.
"Mr. Marsham," he said, "1 am
afraid this will be a difficult affair I
am going to take the liberty of calling
in an expert. That you, exchange? I
want number one, New York city?,
Mr. Sanford Quest."
"V CHAPTER IV.
There seemed to be nothing at all
original in the methods pursued by
the great criminologist when confronted
with this tableau of death and
robbery. His remarks to the inspector
wore few and perfunctory. He
asked only a few languid questions of
Macdougal and Lenora, who were
summoned to his presence.
Macdougal then turned to leave the
room. Lenora was about to follow,
but Quest signed to her to remain.
i snouia iiKe to nave a little con.
versation with you about your mistress,"
he said to her pleasantly. "If
you don't mind, I will ask you to accompany
me in my car. I will send
the man back with you."
They descended in the lift together
and Quest handed the girl into his car.
They drove quickly through the silent
streets.
In a few minutes Lenora was installed
in an easy chair in Quest's sitting-room.
"Lean back and make yourself comfortable,"
Quest invited, as he took a
chair opposite to her. "I must just
look through these papers."
The girl did as she was told. She
opened her coat. The room was delightfully
warm, almost overheated. A!
sense of rest crept over her. She was
conscious that Quest had laid down
the letters which he had been pretending
to read. His eyes were fixed
upon her. There was a queer new
look in them, a grange new feeling
creeping through her veins.
Quest's voice broke an unnatural
silence
"You are anxious to telephone someone,"
he said. "You looked at both
the booths as we came through the,
hotel. Then you remembered, I think,
that he would not be there yet. Telephone
now. The telephone is at your
right hand. You know the number." I
She obeyed almost at once.
"Number 700. Now York city."
"You will ask." Quest continued,
"whether be Is all right whether the
jewels are safe."
There was a brief silence then tho
girl's voice.
"Are you there, James? . Yes. i
1 am T^enora Are you safe? Havei
you the jewels? . . . Where? . . .1
You are sure that you are safe? . . . j
No, nothing fresh has hrnpened "
"You n^o at tho hotel." Quest said
softly. "You are peine to him."
"I cannot sleen." she continued. "1
am coming to vou '
She set down the receiver. Quest
ALD, CONWAY, S O.
leaned a little more closely over her
"You know where the Jewels are
hidden," he said. ^Tell me where?"
Her lips quivered. She made no answer.
"Very good," Quest concluded. "You
need not tell me. Only remember this:
At nine o'clock tomorrow morning you
will bring those jewels to this apartment.
. . . Rest quietly now. 1
want you to go to sleep." '
She obeyed without hesitation.
Quest watched, for a moment, her
regu!:ir breathing. Then he touched
a bell by his side. Laura entered almost
at one*.
Together they carried the sleep!n:
gir> out ot the room into 8 large*
apartment. A single electric light was
burning on the top of a square mirroi
fixed upon an easel. Towards this
they carried the girl and laid her in an
easy chair almost opposite to it.
"The battery is just on the left,"
Laura whispered.
Quest nodded.
"Give me the band."
She turned aa moment and
disappeared in the shadows. When
she returned, she carried a curved
band of flexible Steel. Quest took it
from her, attached it by means ot a
coil ot wire to the battery, and with j
firm, soft fingers slipped it on to |
Lenora's forehead. Then he stepped
back.
"She's a subject, Laura?f'm sure
of it! Now for our great experiment!"
They watched Lenora intently.
"Lenora," Quest said, slowly and
firmly, "your mind is full ot one subject.
You see your mistress m her
chair by the fireside. She is toying
with her diamonds. Look again. She
lies there dead! Who was it entered
the room, Lenora? look! look!
Gaze into that mirror. What do you
see there?"
The girl's eyes had opened. They
were fixed now upon the mirror?distended.
full of unholy things
'Try harder, Lenora,' he muttered,
his own breath laboring. "It is there
in your brain! Look!"
For a single second the smooth surface
of the mirror was obscured. A
room crept dimly like a picture into
being, a fire upon the hearth, a girl
leaning back in her chair. A door
in the background opened. A man
stole out. He crept nearer to the girl
?his eyes fixed upon the diamonds, a
thin, silken cord twisted round his
wrist. Suddenly she saw him?too
late! His hand was upon her lips,
I, 2 ~ r * '
ins nice seemea to siart almost from
the mirror?then blackness! . . .
Lenora opened her eyes. She was
still in the easy-chair before the fire.
"Mr. Quest!" she faltered.
He looked up from some letters
which he had been studying.
"1 am so sorry," he said politely. "I
really had forgotten that you were
here. But you know?that you have
been to sleep?"
"Can 1 go now?" she asked.
"Certainly," Quest replied. "To tell
you the truth, I find that 1 shall not
need to ask you those questions, after
all - A messenger from the police sta,
r
"What About the Young Woi
tion has been here. He says they
have come to the conclusion that a
very well-known gang of New York
criminals are in this thing. We know
how to track them down all right."
"1 may go now, then?" she repeated,
with immense relief.
Quest escorted the girl downstairs,
opened the front door, blew his whistle
and his car pulled up at the door.
"Take this young lady," he ordered,
"wherever she wishes. Good-night!"
The girl drove off. Quest watched
the car disappear around the corner.
Then he turned slowly and made preparations
for his adventure. . . .
"Number 700, New York," he muttered,
half an hour later, as he left
his house. "Beyond Fourteenth street
?a tough neighborhood."
He hesitated for a moment, feeling
the articles in his overcoat pocket?a
revolver in one, a small piece of hard
substance in the other. Then ho
stepped into his car, which had Just
returned.
"Where did you leave the young
lady ?' ho asked the chauffeur.
"In Hroadwny, sir. She left mo and
lh arded a cross-town car."
Quest nodded approvingly.
".No lincsse," he sighed.
CHAPTER V.
I
Sanford Quest was naturally a person
unaffected by presentiments or.
nervous fears of any sort, yet, having
advanced a couple of yards along the
hallway of the house which .he had
just entered without difficulty, he came
to a standstill, oppressed with the
sense of impending danger.
"Anyone here?" he asked, raising
his voice. v
There was no direct response, yet
from somewhere upstairs he heard the
half-smothered cry of a woman. He
gripped his revolver in his fingers. He
took a quick step forward* The floor
gave way beneath him. He was falling
into blackness. . . .
The fall itself was scarcely a dozen
feet. He picked himself up, his shoulder
bruised, hts head swimming a lit
tie. Suddenly a gleam ot light shone
down. A trap-door above his head
was slid a few inches back. The flare
oi an electric torch shone upon his
tace, a man's voice addressed him.
, "Not the great Sanford Quest? This
surely cannot be the greatest detective
in the world walking so easily into
the spider's web!"
"Any chance oi getting out?" Quest
asked laconically.
i\one!" was the bitter reply.
"You've done enough mischief. You're
there to rot!"
"Why this animus against me, my
friend Macdougal?" Quest demanded.
"You and ) have never come up
against one another before. J didn't
like the life you led in New York ten
years ago. or your friends, but you've
suftered nothing through me.
"It t let you go,' once more came
the man's voice, ") know very well in
what chair I shall be sitting before
a month has passed. I am James Macdougal,
Mr. Sanford Quest, ana 1 have
got th6 Ashleigh diamonds, and 1 have
settled an old grudge, it not ot my own,
ot one greater than you. That's all.
A pleasant night to you!"
The door went down with a bang.
"A perfect oubliette,' he remarked
to himself, as he held a match over
his head a moment or two later, "built
for the purpose. It must, be the house
we failed to find which Bill Taylor
used to keep before he was shot.
Smooth brick walls, smooth brick floor,
only exit twelve feet above one's head.
Human means, apparently, are useless.
Science, you have been my mistress all
my days. You must save my life now
or lose an earnest disciple."
Quest felt in his overcoat pocket
and drew out the small, hard pellet.
He gripped it in his fingers, stood
as nearly as possible underneath the
spot from which he had been projected,
coolly swung his arm back, and
flung the black pebble against the
sliding door. The explosion which fol
iu?t'u shook uie very ground under
his feet. For minutes afterwards
everything around him seemed to
rock. Then Sanford Quest emerged,
dusty but unhurt, and touched a constable
on his arm.
"Arrest me;' he ordered "1 am San
ford Quest. I must be taken at once
to headquarters."
mSRSfr-ML
jA; 4
nan?" the Inspector Asked.
They found a cab without much difficulty.
It was five o'clock when they
reached the central police station.
Inspector French happened to be just
going off duty. He recognized Quest
with a little exclamation.
"Got your man to bring me here,"
Quest explained "so as to get away
from the mob."
"Say, you've been in trouble!" the
inspector remarked, leading the way
into his room.
"Bit bf an explosion, that's all,"
Quest replied. "I shall be all right
when you've lent me a clothesbrush."
"The Ashleigh diamonds, eh?" the
inspector asked eagerly.
"I shall have them at nine o'clock
this morning," Sanford Quest promised,
"and hand you over the murderer
somewhere around midnight."
******
Quest slept for a couple of hours,
had a bath and made a leisurely toilet.
At a quarter to nine he sat down to
breakfast in his rooms.
"At nino o'clock," he told his servI
ant. "a young lady will call. Bring
her up."
Tho door was suddenly opened. 1^pnra
walked in. Quest glanced In surprise
at the clock.
"My fault!" he exclaimed. "Wo are
sx>w. Good-morning, Miss Lenora!"
She came straight to the table. She ^
laid a little packet upon the table.
Quest opened it coolly. The Ashleigh
diamonds flashed up at him. He
led Lenora to a chair and rang a bell.
"Prepare a bedroom upstairs/' he
ordered. N "Ask Miss Roche to come
here. . . . Laura," he added, as his
secretary entered, "will you look after
this young lady?"
A few minutes later Inspector
French was announced. Quest nodded
in a friendly manner. *
"Some coffee, inspector?"
"I'd rather have those diamonds!"
Quest threw them lightly across the
table.
The inspector whistled.
"And now, French, will you be here,
please, at midnight, with three men,
armed?"
"Here?" the inspector repeated.
Quest nodded. ,
"Our friend," he said, "is going tc *
be maa enough to walk into hell *
even, when he finds out what he
thinks nas nappened."
"it wasn't any ol Jimmy's lot?"
Sanford Quest shook his head.
"French," he said, "keep mum but it
was tli-5 elderly family letainer, Mao
dougal. t telt restless about him.
He lias lost the girl?he was married
to hei, by the bye?and the jewels.
No feai oi his slipping away. J shall ^
9
%
? 1 *****
AhV HK8B ^b8B ^
"You've Had a Rough Time, Lenora." >\
/
have him here at the time l told
you."
"You've a way of your own of doing
these things, Mr. Quest," the ins: ector
admitted grudgingly.
"Mostly lucky," Quest replied. "Take
a cigar and so long, inspector. They
want me to talk to Chicago on another
little piece of business." . . . ^
It was a few minutes before midnight
when Quest parted the curtainsof
a room on the ground floor of his
house in Georgia square and looked
out into the snow-white street. Then
he turned around and addressed the
figure lying as though asleep upon the
sofa by the fire
"Lenora,' he said, "T am going out.
Stay here, if you please, until 1 re- *
turn." *
He left the room. For a few moments
there was a profound silence.
Then a white face was pressed against
the window. There was a crash of
glass. A man covered with snow
sprang into the apartment. He moved
swiftly to the sofa, and something
black and ugly swayed In his hand.
"So you've deceived me, have you?" ^
he panted. "Handed over the jewels,
chucked me, and given me the double
cross! Anything to say?"
Macdougal leaned forward, his
white face distorted with passion. The
life-preserver bent and quivered be
nma him, cut the air with a swish ^
and crashed full upon the head.
The man staggered hack. The
j weapon fell from his fingers. For a ^
moment he was paralyzed. There was
no blood upon his hand, no cry?
silence inhuman, unnatural! He
looked again. Then the lights flashed
out all around him. There were two
detectives in the doorway, their revolvers
covering him?Sanford Quest,
with Lenora in the background. In
the sudden illumination Macdougal's
horror turned almost to hysterical
rage. He had wasted his fury upon a
dummy! .
"Take him, men," Quest ordered.
"Hands up, Macdougal. Your number's
up."
The handcuffs were upon him h
fore he could move.
"What about the young woman?"
the inspector asked.
Henora stood in an attitude of despair,
her head downcast. She had
turned a little -away from Macdougal. ^
Her hands were outstretched. It was
as though she were expecting the
handcuffs.
"You can let her alone," Sanford
Quest said quietly "A wife cannot
give evidence against her husband,
and besides, 1 need her. She is going
| to work for me."
! Macdougal was already at the door, \
I between the two detectives. He swung
} (Cot.tinned or. i'age ~evcn.)